San Antonio Express , TX
Aug 11 2004

Past Summer Olympics at a glance

About 776 B.C.: A speed demon from the Greek city of Elis was the
first Olympic champion. Of course, the first Olympics were limited to
one event, a sprint under 200 meters called the stadion, and to
Greeks only.

708 B.C.: The pentathlon became part of the Olympics, with five
events: The stadion, the diaulos (a sprint covering two lengths of
the stadium), the dolichos (a longer race of varying length), the
long jump and the discus.

692 B.C.: Pantakles of Athens claimed the first repeat championship,
earning his second prized olive wreath in the stadion .

512 B.C.: The longest winning streak in Olympics history is snapped,
as wrestler Milton of Kronon is beaten. Milton won the youth division
of the wrestling in 540 B.C., then five adult titles in a row,
through 516 B.C.

396 B.C.: Kyniska, daughter of the king of Sparta, was the first
woman to be listed as an Olympic champion. Her victory in the
four-horse chariot race was notable because married women were not
allowed to even watch the games, much less participate. She beat the
rule on a technicality – the winner’s wreath went to the owner of the
chariot, not the driver.

A.D. 369: The last recorded champion of the ancient Olympics was
boxer Varasdates, the prince of Armenia. In 393, the emperor of Rome
abolished the games, calling them a pagan ritual.

1896: The first modern Olympic Games, brainchild of the Frenchman
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, were held in Athens.

1900: Holding the Olympics as part of the Paris world’s fair turned
out to be a disaster, as the events were lost amid the fair and
spread out over five months.

1904: The next games were little better, scattered over 41/2 months
as part of the St. Louis world’s fair.

1908: London put on the games with only 10 months’ lead time,
erecting a multipurpose stadium that included tracks for running and
cycling, a soccer field, a swimming pool and a platform for wrestling
and gymnastics.

1912: Stockholm raised the bar for future Olympics, introducing
electronic timing and public-address systems. U.S. athlete Jim Thorpe
was so dominant in the decathlon that his gold-medal score in 1912
would have been good enough for a medal 36 years later.

1920: After the 1916 Games, scheduled for Berlin, were canceled,
Antwerp was awarded the 1920 Games as compensation for being turned
into a mess during World War I.

1924: Baron de Coubertin, scheduled to retire as head of the
International Olympic Committee in 1925, finally got the games to
come back to Paris.

1928: A tradition was established in Amsterdam, as the host nation
marched into the opening ceremonies first and Greece last.

1932: Los Angeles proved the games could be profitable, even during
the Great Depression. The 16-day event made $1 million.

1936: The Nazis tried to turn the event into a propaganda device but
U.S. runner Jesse Owens would have none of it, winning four gold
medals.

1948: Japan had other business on its mind in 1940 and the games were
canceled, as were the 1944 Olympics scheduled for London. The 1948
Games went to London.

1952: Finland’s efficient job of hosting the Olympics caused many to
suggest all future games be held in Scandinavia.

1956: The first summer Olympics held in November and December (summer
in the Southern Hemisphere) came off without a hitch in Melbourne –
and without any horses, prevented from entering Australia by strict
quarantine laws.

1960: Rome got its second chance at hosting the games, and put on an
event filled with history (the wrestling was held in a 2,000-year-old
stadium) and drama (the marathon finished under the Arch of
Constantine).

1964: Japan also got its second chance at the games, and the first
Olympics held in Asia were filled with close races and world records.

1968: Holding the games in Mexico City – more than a mile above sea
level – was a controversial choice. Distance runners suffered, but
longstanding world records were set in the long jump (Bob Beamon’s
leap of 29-21/2, which lasted for 22 years) and the men’s 1,600-meter
relay (2:56.16, which stood for 24 years).

1972: The Munich Games were marked by tragedy – the death of 11
Israeli athletes in a terrorist attack – and triumph – Mark Spitz’s
seven gold medals in swimming.

1976: Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci posted the first perfect score
in Olympics history, then went on to do it six more times – and earn
three gold medals.

1980: In protest of the Soviets’ invasion of Afghanistan, the United
States boycotted the games in Moscow, along with 64 other nations.

1984: After the 1972 terrorist attack and the financial losses
incurred by Montreal in 1976, only one city – Los Angeles – even bid
for the 1984 Games. It was the first Olympics since 1896 to be staged
without government funding, and it became a model after it made a
$225 million profit.

1988: South Korea got the second games in Asia off to a dramatic
start, with 1936 marathon winner Sohn Kee-chung running the torch
into the stadium. Sohn had been forced to compete under a Japanese
name in 1936, since Korea had been occupied by Japan.

1992: Basketball’s “Dream Team” made its debut in Barcelona, and the
professionals averaged 117 points a game and never called a time-out.

1996: The centennial games were awarded to Atlanta instead of Athens,
and Carl Lewis made history by winning his fourth gold medal in the
long jump.

2000: Sydney was the site for the largest games in history, with
10,649 athletes and 300 events. Athletes from 80 nations claimed
medals.
David King

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress